April (snow) showers...

...bring busy weeks, if not May flowers around here!

Spring has been slow in coming this month.  Little snow showers once a week or so all month, just often enough to quash our hopes for the return of warmth. Nights in the 30s, and days still cold enough for winter coats.  This past week is the first so far this month where the 10 day forecast does NOT include a snowflake. 

Still-- chin up and carry on around here. Snow or shine, we've had some good times so far this month.

Winter's first dog show!  Our girl was first in her class (female puppy under 6 months)!  Never mind that she was the ONLY one in her class.  She's always a winner to us.

This was the cutest little dog show out in the middle of a farm field in Medina.  For English Cocker puppies only-- so specific!  Really just a way for English Cocker people to hang out together for the day.

Reconnecting with friends!

A great dinner with our friends from Lamaze class-- our combined troupe of 4 get along swimmingly, and our friends are terrific cooks and tons of fun.

Birthday Parties!

A skating party for our neighbor....

Learning valuable life skills!  

Here is Jack, burning paper with the concentrated light of the sun.

More Birthday Parties!

Our wonderful friend Tiffany celebrated her milestone birthday with-- what else?-  a roller skating party. In what seems to be a theme this month, it was at the cutest little place, the roller rink that time forgot.....

And a bonus-gathering with friends before... (so many babies in our group again!  What a treat!)

Snuggling with a puppy!  

Our tiny one is growing up. Still pretty tiny, but less of a tumble-bumble, pell-mell puppy than a real dog these days.  Never fear, she's still part crocodile,  and a fan of shredding any tissues she can find.  We've still got a puppy for a while yet.

The week of all theater!

We took the kids to their first high school musical-- the Solon High production of Secret Garden.  Ivy loved it so much.  As we left the theater she said, "I just can't stop smiling!"  Jack's high praise was "It was better than the movie..."  

Here's our girl enjoying a brief moment of warmth at the Solon playground before the show.  Spring came on a Thursday and we had a picnic!

Then, Saturday- grown-up theater, with loge seats to see "The Humans" at Playhouse Square...

And- not pictured-- more theater for Ivy, who was invited to go with our new friends to see The Little Mermaid-- and have an overnight at their house after.  So lucky to have these opportunities and people in our lives. 

Exceedingly cute animals!

And lazy weekends around the house. A few springlike days have found us cleaning up the yard and building a new garden bed out front....

...and spending some quality time relaxing, too!

Art Shows!

Our two little artists had their work selected to be in the CH-UH Art Show at the library.  

Here's Ivy with her Blue Dog.

...and Jack's "Ugly Doll" there on the right.  He was so excited and proud about creating that.

More Community Involvement!

Here's Nat, singing the spelling of the word "Peccadillo" with the rest of the Boulevard Dads team at the Reaching Heights Spelling Bee.  This is most certainly something Nat never expected to be doing.  But then, when you're a Reaching Heights board member and a PTA officer -- a veritable pillar of the community!- you do what you have to do.  The spelling bee was a hoot.  Even Ivy enjoyed herself.  Who knew.

More fun nights with friends!

They are watching Harry Potter, of course!

Swimming!

The children are tired, smell of chlorine, and complain about random sore muscles. Must be swim season.

And soccer season too!

Why not work on cross-stitch while you wait?

And-- now that it seems that spring is finally on its way-- time for chicks!

 We managed to narrow it down to seven.  Theoretically we are going to sell them.  Except for the ones we can't part with, of course....

 Finally- tonight's Grade 1 and 2 concert at Boulevard. A great turnout of families and the cutest kids around.  So much enthusiasm!  Those sweet faces!   Those dance moves!  We love our school.

Hello Easter (and goodbye March!)

 A lovely Easter weekend has been had by all, and we've closed out March with a busy week that included a gala benefit, my spring break, a trip to Pittsburgh, several egg hunts, and even a few sunny days.  A recap for you, in somewhat-reverse chronological order (just to spice things up)...

Easter Weekend:

We did not end up getting tickets to the Egg Hunt at the Gardens this year-- our friends were out of town, and we thought we would be too, and by the time we went to reserve some spots, it was sold out.  No matter.  We just brought our own eggs to the Garden at noon, saved $40, avoided the crowds, and had a marvelous time.

Hey there.  It's just me and this pony sitting here in the woods.  And if you look really close, you'll see I have a balloon.

Pretending to be  bunny....

 They are not always photogenic.

But this butterfly sure was.

 Easter Morning...

 This girl was up at 6:15am, too excited to sleep.  Managed to get her to lay in our bed for long enough to sneak out and hide some eggs in the semi-dark of the yard, a little dog at my heels..

 Early risers meant we had time to open baskets, have a full (delicious) special-day breakfast, and hunt eggs all before choir rehearsal at 9am.  Phew!

A nice church service, full of so much singing, then home for ham and sweet potatoes with Gram to close out celebrations for the day.

Idyllic, if short-lived second egg-hunt. Ended with Ivy in tears because she only found 4 of the 15 eggs.  Note to self-- ALWAYS hide equal numbers of named eggs...

 Also, face painting.  Just because.

Now, back in time.  Saturday evening we were invited to attend a wonderfully irreverent Seder meal at a friend's house.  Ivy had a great time holding babies and cats...

... and Jack was pleased as punch to be able to read along with the Hagaddah and partake in the full swearing and inappropriateness, even as the adults tried (with varying degrees of success) to censor it a bit.

 Back in time again.  Thursday - Friday:  A mini-vacay to Pittsburgh.

We went to see friends, and museums.  And churches full of 5,000 relics.

 We rode an Incline and took in the views.

 We tried to eat out at a cool pizza place in Edgewood but were foiled by wait time.  While waiting for take-out, we all managed to enjoy ourselves in a little courtyard thanks to this dog and a rousing game of sharks and minnows.  I was reminded again of how much more fun life is when you join in-- after standing and watching the kids run about, I took their invitation to be part of the game, and the drizzly, waiting-around evening turned into good times.  Turns out playing with kids-- really playing-- is pretty great.

After staying up far too late with our friends, we thoroughly overstimulated ourselves at the Carnegie Science Museum on Friday.

 I could have spent all day with this amazing model railroad.  Room size, with 4 seasons and lighting that cycled through day and night, showing historic Pittsburgh from every angle.

The kids loved the rocket launch station.  Jack could have stayed THERE all day. 

 A high point was the tour of a WWII submarine, fascinating for all of us.

 And of course no trip to the Burgh would be complete without....

Managed to completely exhaust our children.

 ...but well worth it.

Rewind to Wednesday... Annual egg- dyeing extravaganza. A lovely evening with our friends.

 Some other random moments from the past week:

This girl-- she's started going to dog class with Winter and I, and she is becoming quite the dog handler.

 Also, I got my hair cut a little.

 And throwback to the week before-- a group picture of Ivy's sweet ballet class.  Bittersweet that this next session could be Ivy's last in this wonderful, laid back, affordable program. Look how tall she is, there in the back row.  Remember when she started, not-quite-three, her round belly and white-blonde hair with a big bow?   Time flies.

Kicked off my spring break with a visit to the abandoned observatory on North Taylor.  Had to get some inside photos for a photography challenge, after all...

Back to last weekend-- the much anticipated (and worked for) West Shore Chorale benefit event. Everything went off without a hitch and Nat and I had ourselves a wonderful evening out.

 Open bar, fun friends, a terrific swing band, great food.  Won the Playhouse Square loge seats AND a fun glittery Christmas decoration at the silent auction, and Nat and I turned out to be the actual entertainment (sorry David Conte!) when we hit the dance floor.

We always forget how much we like dancing.  Great to have an excuse to get all dressed up and be grown-ups for the night. 

Prior to our night out, we had a day out with the whole family, at the Cleveland March for Our Lives.  Winter's second protest march, and the kid's third.  A family of burgeoning activists.

 It was a good march, full of energy and creative signs, well attended. Lucked out with the weather.

 Also there were lots of dogs.  A good way to spend a Saturday-- using our First Amendment rights with a few thousand like-minded strangers.

And-- March is over!  April is here!  Never mind the weather forecast that still includes two days of snow in the next week.  Spring is on the way.  We are planning our garden an pre-planting seeds and hoping for great things from this new month.